On December 7 at 04:12 UTC, a Chinese Ceres 1 rocket launched five satellites into a sun-synchronous orbit from the Jiquan Satellite Launch Center in China. Ceres 1 is a four-stage rocket with three solid stages and a liquid-propellant fourth stage. Onboard were five satellites with missions ranging from different types of remote sensing to scientific research.

This launch marked a milestone in Chinese “commercial” launches. This was the first time a Chinese company conducted a second successful orbital launch. The first CERES 1 launch was over a year ago.

For our final launch of the week, a big rocket launched a satellite to a high-energy orbit.

More Information

The Galaxy Power Ceres-1 Yao-2 rocket successfully launched (Sina) (Chinese)

Launch video